A new record could be set in the auction room next month, when an unbroken residential estate guided at £16m-plus will go under the hammer at the Barnett Ross sale.
Okehampton Close, comprising 65 flats in North Finchley, N12, would be the largest lot to sell at auction to date.
The current record was set in 2014 when Barnett Ross sold Gwalior House, in Southgate, N14, for £13.8m.
Both properties were offered on behalf of charity the Foyle Foundation, which has awarded grants to UK charities totalling more than £90m since 2001. According to its accounts for the year to December 2016, it owns £24m of largely residential property and £58m of quoted investments.
Reducing the portfolio
The accounts state that it will continue to reduce its property portfolio as market conditions allow, to enable “additional asset diversification to take place, with emphasis being placed on increasing overseas equity investments”.
Barnett Ross director Steven Grossman said the foundation “likes the transparency of auction”, adding: “We are not the only auction house to show that auction can work for large assets, if the value is correct,” he said.
The Okehampton Close estate produces £729,365 pa from 52 flats let on ASTs, three assured tenancies and seven regulated tenancies. The remaining three are vacant.
This will be the first time that the 1930s estate – built in the style of the Garden City movement – has gone on the market since 1946.
Grossman said the value lay in the potential to increase density on the 2.63-acre site, which includes 30 garages as well as communal gardens, and sell off the individual homes. The vendor has drawn up a scheme to add 46 flats, largely through new build, in line with the drive to increase housing in the area. It has not applied for planning consent. “They are not developers. They feel the timing is right to sell,” Grossman said.
Wide range of investors
Interest is expected from a wide range of investors, including charities or social landlords, which may benefit from 100% stamp duty tax relief, and overseas buyers. Gwalior House was bought by Swedish investment group Akelius, while the underbidder was a London-based property company.
Bidders are required to pre-register specifically for Okehampton Close in order to ensure bidding runs smoothly on the day.
The sale on 10 May at the Radisson Blue Portman hotel, W1, will start at 12 o’clock. Veteran auctioneer John Barnett will break the auction as close to 1pm as possible to offer the £16m lot.
About the Foyle Foundation
The Foyle Foundation supports charities whose core work covers arts and learning, funds the Foyle School Library Scheme in primary schools, and provides small grants to charities with a turnover of less than £150,000 pa. It implements the terms of the will of the late Christina Foyle, the daughter of William Foyle who, with his brother, founded the bookshop Foyles in Charing Cross Road, WC2, which she continued to manage after her father’s death.
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